Vvvvvvvv!
The deep, resonant hum filled Kim Su-yeon’s ears until they felt numb.
Whoooosh!
Even with her eyes closed, her vision seemed to blur and fade away.
But that wasn’t all.
The air was torn apart by a piercing sound.
A fierce wind whipped her bangs around.
Explosions pounded relentlessly against her eardrums, and the earth itself seemed to crack open.
And from beneath the castle came agonized screams—desperate, heart-wrenching cries.
Every one of Kim Su-yeon’s senses was assaulted, overwhelmed by the chaos.
Not long after, all of it stopped.
The noise gradually faded, and suddenly, the world fell into an eerie silence.
The only sound she could hear was her own shallow breath, barely audible.
Slowly, Kim Su-yeon opened her eyes.
“…”
She was speechless at the scene before her.
A living hell.
No other words could capture it.
Was this what the epicenter of a maximum-intensity earthquake looked like?
The wasteland was shattered beyond recognition, as if a puzzle had been torn apart and scattered to the winds.
At this point, it was almost a miracle the castle still stood.
Not a single demon remained standing.
No, not just standing—finding an intact corpse was like searching for a needle in a sandstorm.
Only when she spotted something floating in a pool of dark blood could she begin to guess what had happened to the enemies.
All that remained was ash and ruin.
And standing amidst it all was only one person.
For a moment, the blazing sword came to mind, but Kim Su-yeon shook her head.
Setting aside the fact that she felt no trace of fiery energy,
even if she had unleashed that ability with all her might, it was impossible for it to have caused this level of destruction.
At that moment, Kim Su-hyun slowly turned around, and their eyes met—his face blank with disbelief.
“!”
Kim Su-yeon felt a sudden sinking sensation in her stomach.
At the same time, the distant landscape seemed to rush toward her in an instant.
The energy pulling her in, enveloping her whole body, was familiar.
Because it was the ability she often used herself—Void Grasp.
Only this time, the roles were reversed: she was the object, not the wielder.
Squish.
A sticky sensation pressed against the soles of her boots, and she swallowed lightly.
From this vantage point, the devastation was even clearer.
Black blood flowed in thick streams, forming rivers across the land, sending thin ripples outward from where she stepped.
Though the ground was parched and cracked, so much liquid had burst forth so quickly that the earth couldn’t absorb it.
Without exaggeration, the blood pooled ankle-deep, almost like a swamp.
Watching the torn-apart demons, Kim Su-yeon glanced away briefly.
Kim Su-hyun had approached, his eyes glowing with a crimson hue.
“What will you do?”
“…What?”
The question caught her off guard.
Not “How do you feel?” but “What will you do?”
Kim Su-yeon hesitated, and Kim Su-hyun chuckled softly.
“What do you want to do?”
Suddenly, his large hand gripped the hair of one of the Seven Great Demons—Lucifel—who groaned weakly on the ground.
Her body was drenched in blood, one eye barely open.
At that moment, Kim Su-yeon realized something.
Kim Su-hyun had deliberately spared the Seven Great Demons.
Though Baal’s head had been crushed and he was gone, Lilith and Thanatos were still barely alive.
Or rather, they were just barely clinging to life.
And then—
“What should we do?”
Kim Su-hyun asked for the third time.
“Kill… them.”
Even as she spoke, she couldn’t meet his gaze.
Because she knew.
She knew exactly what the man before her wanted.
“Really?”
His tone was teasing, and Kim Su-yeon clenched her fists tightly.
“They’re demons. Demons.”
She didn’t need to emphasize it for him to understand.
They both knew the stained pasts they never spoke of.
And now, the situation had shifted.
“I imagine you’ve suffered worse than I have.”
“…”
“But are you really just going to kill them? For real?”
“…”
Kim Su-yeon shuddered.
Because he wasn’t wrong.
They were counterparts, yet fundamentally different.
The most decisive difference: their genders.
During her first cycle—an experience she never wanted to recall—what kind of hardships had she endured as a woman?
She didn’t want to imagine, but she knew it must have been countless humiliations and horrors too shameful to speak of.
“I wouldn’t just kill them.”
His voice was calm, almost reassuring.
“I’d make them pay back what they did to me. And to you. Even more. That’s what I did.”
His soft, low voice was like a demon’s whisper—sweet and seductive.
Though she had no intention of entertaining such thoughts, she couldn’t help but listen.
Just imagining it made her feel a strange thrill.
“We deserve it. You know that.”
For a moment, Kim Su-yeon almost nodded.
Her face brightened, and she lifted her eyes sharply.
And she saw it clearly.
Eyes gleaming with a bloody sheen.
And above all, a monstrous mass of fused flesh and bone from head to toe.
It was the embodiment of evil itself—a colossal, living nightmare.
“Ah…”
Her brief moment of hope faded, replaced by disbelief.
When she first saw him, his face had been so vacant it was hard to believe they were counterparts.
After witnessing his true power, she had thought he was an ideal to aspire to.
But from the moment she looked at him just now, everything was denied.
He no longer felt like the same person, nor someone she wanted to resemble.
That vague sense of unease she’d felt before had finally taken shape.
What she had thought was a paradise was actually a black abyss.
Yes.
The man before her—
Was no longer human.
A monster, or something even more ferocious.
Not even comparable to the demons beside him.
“So, what now?”
The fourth question came.
Then—
“First…”
As Kim Su-hyun twisted the hair in his hand tighter,
Kim Su-yeon drew her sword with lightning speed and plunged the blade into Lucifel’s throat.
Watching the Seven Great Demon turn to ash in an instant, Kim Su-hyun let out a small whistle.
“…Enough.”
He spoke calmly, but Kim Su-yeon’s voice trembled faintly.
“It’d be dangerous to leave them alive. Better to end it cleanly here.”
Even as she spoke, she avoided his eyes.
It was a weak excuse, made up on the spot.
“Is that so?”
“Yeah.”
“…I thought so.”
Kim Su-yeon lowered her gaze as the man’s lips curled into a crooked smile.
She knew what he wanted.
But she refused to follow.
She felt the difference in their ranks.
Feelings like envy or jealousy had long since vanished.
She could only feel disappointment.
Because she still—
“You’re different from me.”
Kim Su-hyun said, as if finally understanding.
Instinctively, Kim Su-yeon bit her lower lip hard.
But then his voice softened.
“…Huh?”
For some reason, it didn’t sound like a reproach, but like praise.
“We won?”
Jeagal Hae-sol, fiddling with her hands at the table, turned her head and asked.
“So the demons lost, not won? The Mercenary Union came out on top?”
“The information just came in from the East. It’s confirmed.”
The messenger nodded repeatedly, his face grim.
“Confirmed my ass. Eastern rumors are always crap…”
“They said the Shadow Queen herself delivered the news.”
Jeagal Hae-sol scoffed, then frowned sharply.
“Seriously? Damn.”
She waved the messenger away and pulled out a communication orb, channeling magic into it.
After a brief exchange, she sighed deeply.
“…It’s true. That changes everything.”
She smacked her lips and crossed her arms.
“Wow, that’s incredible. How the hell did they pull it off? The Mercenary Union, Istantel Row, and Hamil… there’s no way those three could hold off such a force. Especially after the Steel Mountain Range campaign weakened their strength.”
“Did Ground Zero really happen?” Jeagal Hae-sol muttered, pouting her pretty lips.
She’d been talking to herself for a while.
Leisurely, she glanced around the room and fixed her gaze on the seat of honor.
There sat a woman in white light armor, her shoulders bare, wearing a troubled expression.
A strange smile crept onto Jeagal Hae-sol’s lips.
“Our Lady Seonghu~. What’s with the long face? Did you eat something bad?”
“Hey!”
Bandahi, sitting across from her, snapped sharply.
Jeagal Hae-sol laughed and waved her hand.
“Just kidding, just kidding. But seriously, don’t look so gloomy. Their victory was unexpected, sure. But no matter what, we have one thing to do, right?”
“…Do you have some brilliant plan?”
Bandahi’s tone softened a bit at Jeagal Hae-sol’s casual attitude.
“Huh? A brilliant plan? Nope, nothing like that.”
“What?”
Jeagal Hae-sol widened her eyes and tapped her temple with her index finger.
“Look, I’m not trying to ignore you, but if you have a brain, try using it, okay?”
“This is the real deal.”
“Forget everything else and focus on the present. Even if we set aside the Steel Mountain Range, the demons we trusted got crushed. As a result, the Mercenary Union has completely taken over the New Continent. And we and the East have been working together for a long time. So, what should we do now?”
“I—”
Just as Bandahee was about to raise her voice in anger, Yu Hyun-ah, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up.
Immediately, everyone fell quiet and turned their attention to her.
She shook her head, her face still etched with deep worry.
“I really don’t want to do this.”
“Oh, pleeease~. Our sacred pushover, Princess Hime~.”
Jegal Haesol threw her head back, whining dramatically.
Yet, the smile on her face made it clear she’d expected this reaction all along.
Hyun-ah hesitated, glancing around nervously.
“But the demons are a common enemy… aren’t they?”
“Yeah, yeah. Of course.”
“User Jegal Haesol, this time you can’t deny the Mercenary Union’s achievements. They succeeded in conquering the Steel Mountain Range, a long-standing goal of the Northern Continent, and they defeated the demons. It must have been incredibly tough for them. To swoop in now and steal their credit…”
“Oh, when you put it that way, I guess I was wrong. So, how about we throw a welcome party for them all together?”
Jegal Haesol clapped her hands with a playful grin, as if caught off guard by her own joke.
“Right? The side that claims the New Continent will only grow stronger over time. Meanwhile, we’ll be stuck in the Old Continent, twiddling our thumbs until we get eaten alive. Yeah, that sounds just about right.”
A few frowned at her over-the-top attitude, but this time Bandahee didn’t step in.
She understood why Haesol was being sarcastic.
Hyun-ah glanced left and right, then let out a deep sigh and fell silent.
“…What are our chances?”
After a long pause, Cha Seung-hyun spoke gravely.
“Chances? What chances? The East is useless without the Shadow Queen and the Red Fang, but they have decent numbers to act as meat shields. If we join forces with us—Musin, Crazy Woman, Flash, God’s Shield, and Surama Spear—I don’t think we’d lose.”
Jegal Haesol smirked, shooting a glance at the burly Gong Chan-ho, who gripped his black spear tightly.
“The Mercenary Union is strong.”
“Hey, let’s be precise. They were strong. How many times do I have to say it? They faced the demons during the Steel Mountain Range campaign, but do you really think their forces are still intact?”
“But…”
“Ah! Of course, they might still be at full strength. Maybe some sudden natural disaster wiped out all the demons, or a ridiculously powerful hero from some comic book just popped out of nowhere to help. Right?”
At that, Haesol grinned and pulled out her communication orb again, which glowed softly—another message had come through.
“Oh! Shadow Queen! Getting two calls from you in one day? The East must be pretty worked up.”
“Huh?”
“……”
A moment later, the smile vanished from Jegal Haesol’s face for the first time.
---------------------------= Author’s Note =---------------------------
ㅇ>-<